9-News: 37.087 – Could Nine Release Chavez?

[RonCo]

With the 2037 season ground to an excruciating, but merciful end for the Yellow Springs Nine, rumors from inside team headquarters is that the team is seriously considering releasing longtime face of the franchise Jose Chavez. The beloved face of the franchise for over a decade, the man they call Dogface will be 36 in December, and lost most of the season to a ruptured tendon in his finger. That he’d already lost several miles an hour off his fastball doesn’t bode well for a rock-solid return, and his contract calls for him to make $12M next year--$12M that the club could find value for in other places.

The question, of course, is how likely that would be. Could the Yellow Springs club be as heartless as to release their fan fave?

“Given the finances of the club, it’s possible,” said Melissa Lester, one of the voices of the Nine Broadcasting Network. “I could see them releasing him and then shooting for a shorter deal to bring him back at a price tag more in line with a back of the rotation guy.”

Given that such a move would mean the club would be paying Chavez twice, that idea seems silly. But the cost structure of the salary cap itself would allow the team to pay Chavez’s $12M off the “cap” and then only account whatever his 2038 salary would be to their league-mandated spend limit—allowing them to spend the difference between Chavez’s reduced payroll and that $12M on another player.

“I’ve loved my time with Yellow Springs,” Chavez said as he convalesced in his Dominican home. “I hope we can stay together.”

The club has a few weeks to make such a decision. Time will tell.

[ae37jr]

Before you resigned Stone I thought he may have been asking for a fortune. So I was thinking about offering a trade where I would take on Chavez and get Stone in exchange for a couple of lottery picks. Then near the deadline I tried to make something happen with McNeill. Once again with Chavez's $45 million relief being the major trade chip. In the end, McNeill's large 2037 salary combined with my cap limitations made it impossible to come up with anything.

Anyone that knows your stance on finances should see Chavez as a major opportunity. $45 million is a big hit. I know you are going to say different, but anyone willing to take on his contract will end up netting a decent return in talent. I'll probably look back into it when the dust settles from the great Brooklyn fire sale.

[RonCo]

Maybe I'm missing something, but right now I can essentially release Chavez for almost free. I'm locked out of IFA next year, so that's not an issue. The only real problem is possible cash for major draft pick signing and a bot of a question on IFA for 2039 if we can't get our revenue stream up again. So, I'm certainly willing to look at some inventive ideas and I'm open to a blockbuster approach, but as long as my revenue stream is up over the salary cap, I'm probably not going to give a major player up for the cash relief alone. If my revenue stream drops next year, and I still have Chavez around, then, yeah, that calculus changes.